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| Terror police 'probed royal case' | Terror police 'probed royal case' |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| Anti-terror police were called in to deal with a royal gay sex blackmail investigation, a court has heard. | Anti-terror police were called in to deal with a royal gay sex blackmail investigation, a court has heard. |
| The Old Bailey was told that Det Insp Paul Harty led a team of 30 officers after being contacted by the royal protection department last August. | The Old Bailey was told that Det Insp Paul Harty led a team of 30 officers after being contacted by the royal protection department last August. |
| Police obtained £50,000 of public money in case the alleged blackmailers asked to see the cash, the court heard. | |
| Ian Strachan, 31, and Sean McGuigan, 41, both of London, deny blackmailing a Royal Family member known as Witness A. | |
| 'Written agreement' | |
| Det Insp Harty told the jury that a demand for money was only "implicit", and that the cash had never been shown to the defendants. | |
| The officer, a member of the SO15 counter-terrorism unit, said the inquiry was launched on 29 August. | |
| He told the court: "Because royalty protection don't have their own investigative wing, there is a written agreement that we will assist on certain investigations for them." | |
| Det Insp Harty said SO15 would not normally deal with blackmail cases. | |
| Ronald Thwaites QC, representing Mr McGuigan, said: "The treatment of this case was different because it came to you in circumstances where it wouldn't otherwise do so as a result of the person involved being a member of the Royal Family?" | |
| Mr Harty replied: "As a result of the written agreement, a policy." | |
| Sex claim | |
| The court has heard that Mr Strachan and Mr McGuigan used a mobile phone to record several allegations about Witness A made by a royal employee, known as Witness D. | |
| The claims included Witness A performing a sex act on Witness D and other "scandalous" comments about the Royal Family. | |
| The defendants are alleged to have tried to blackmail Witness A, after failing to sell the recordings to newspapers. | |
| Mr Strachan, of Fulham, and Mr McGuigan, of Battersea, are charged with making "an unwarranted demand with menaces" of £50,000. | |
| The trial continues. |